(Part 21 of 46 in series, Level 52 countdown)

Wonder-filled day. Awesome friends old and new, glorious weather.
(Part 21 of 46 in series, Level 52 countdown)
Wonder-filled day. Awesome friends old and new, glorious weather.
The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment.
~ Warren Bennis
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(Part 20 of 46 in series, Level 52 countdown)
Terrific first day of Rendezvous, was as much mental as physical. Saturday will be, no surprise, another day of parkour.
Once I learned how to be a good sport, I began to appreciate getting my delusions busted as the target of a well played, real life, condescending Wonka. I’m too often condescending, and being the recipient is potent medicine.
It is to my great pleasure that such a fine example of 18th-century punking is related to typography.
~ Martin McClellan from Letters From the Hellbox: Caslon, Baskerville, and Franklin: Revolutionary Types – McSweeney’s Internet Tendency
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Typography is a field which I find intriguing. People spent tremendous time and effort understanding readability and utility of little bits of lead type, printing presses, and optimizing everything. I find it sublime that someone so into type (go read the essay) was so oblivious about something they held so dear. Yes, do tell me more about that typography minutiae.
At which point I began doing that sort of squinting, glancing side to side, I’m feeling suspicious thing. I’m not a typography nerd, but there are a couple other fields where I could probably use a good punk’ing.
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In my opinion, we don’t devote nearly enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks.
~ Bill Watterson
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(Part 19 of 46 in series, Level 52 countdown)
I love to stroll around, and did miles of wandering around London. Friday’s activity will be day one of Rendezvous.
We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.
~ Carl Sagan
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(Part 18 of 46 in series, Level 52 countdown)
Nothing crazy, but planning this yesterday enabled me to get this done this morning before I have to leave for the airport :) Tomorrow: Perambulation on a different continent.
My time is my only real resource. My time is finite. I’m temporarily able-bodied. I’m temporarily in control of my thoughts—and only mostly in control if I’m honest. We feel deeply touched when someone pays attention to us. This is why many people fight (figuratively and literally) for attention. The power of all the solitary experiences (books and music, meditation and personal movement, writing and all other composition, regardless of medium) is that we are free from the constraints of others’ time. With the solitary we remain entirely in control of the use of our own time.
By comparison, the consumption of stories via electronic media can leave us feeling peculiarly undernourished, dissatisfied and unfulfilled, as if we had just gulped down fast food. Despite an insatiable desire for more, we rarely feel uplifted, and it’s not often that we think about the characters for days afterwards. Storytelling is the oldest, purest and most direct form of human communication. Modern technology is no substitute for this unique compact between narrator and listener.
~ Richard Hamilton from, A story told aloud, in person, has a power like no other | Aeon Essays
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The trick (in addition to T. E. Lawrence’s “not minding it hurts”) is to be aware of when we need to surrender our control to the others’ time. Sometimes we need to be enthralled. Sometimes we need to feel touched. Sometimes we need to feel ourselves given over to the power of others. For that, the power is more so in the telling.
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…we see what we believe, not the other way around. Rarely do we see the world as it is. Most of the time we are so busy compartmentalizing, judging, and ignoring what we can’t abide that we see almost nothing. We don’t see opportunities. We fail to see pain. And most of all, we refuse to see the danger in doing nothing. If you can’t see, you will never make art successfully.
~ Seth Godin
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(Part 17 of 46 in series, Level 52 countdown)
To and from my favorite local cafe is about 4 miles. Tomorrow: I think the exercise will be to power the human-powered lawn mower.
Often it isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you out, it’s the little pebble in your shoe.
~ Muhammad Ali
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(Part 16 of 46 in series, Level 52 countdown)
Oof, slow and tired this morning. Too much food this weekend o_O Tomorrow shall be a long walk to/from our town’s little cafe for lunch
Having priorities isn’t enough for me to end up sane. I’ve overcome the naive urge to line up everything into a single-file queue; That’s not how life actually works. Leaning into parallel-ism is the way. Social engagements bubble up on their own, and I lean into those whenever I can. Maintenance and administrivia need to be regimented and so I’ve process-ified everything so the important but not-urgent things get attended to. One must have the mental space—the ability to sit with one’s thoughts—to really think about life.
At the individual level, it is not enough to work on good ideas. You must only work on the best ideas. It is not enough to ask “is this good” you must also ask “is there something better?” As painful as ruthless prioritization is, it is not as painful as failing to do it.
~ Andrew Bosworth from, Half Staffed is Unstaffed
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Unfortunately, prioritization stands upon the idea that “best” or “better” have meaning. I have no interest in being particularly disciplined at anything. (Setting aside various comments people make about how much I get done.) I have no interest in doing what’s “best”. I have a moral compass I’m comfortable with, and I enjoy creating things (like great conversations).
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I tell my students, when you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.
~ Toni Morrison
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(Part 15 of 46 in series, Level 52 countdown)
Active recovery day. Oof, pebble wrestling always pays off. Tomorrow: A loop of our usual trail run.
Reading time: About 5 minutes, 1100 words
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This issue is https://7forsunday.com/44
I’ve been stumbling more over graphic depictions and graphic novels. There’s this fun book Out on the Wire by Jessica Abel which describes the storytelling secrets of the new masters of radio. I’ve read another graphic novel about finance and the visual element really brings the stories to life. (See Craig learn, sorry.) In hindsight, I don’t understand at all why this would have surprised me. I spent gobs of time reading comics like Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County in book form and they’re graphic novels if you read the entire arc in one go.
Our thoughts are a composite process. We really do think with our entire bodies.
~ Alex Pavlotski from, Habit Change and the Embodied Mind | alexpavlotski
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Pavlotski is another example. I had a wonderful conversation, Ethnography, leadership, and trajectory, with him for the Movers Mindset podcast. He is probably best-known for his work visualizing Parkour, but there’s much more to his work than just the drawing portion. This is not just a guy who does parkour, who also happens to draw kewl cartoons.
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Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
~ Miyamoto Musashi
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(Part 14 of 46 in series, Level 52 countdown)
Fun little session with just enough pebble wrestling to get a good workout. Tomorrow’s activity will be walking.